World, Don't sideline Yemen!; and Why 'Not' get a State?

Published September 20th, 2011 - 11:15 GMT

A stark warning for the Arab Spring viewers to not have turned their attention from Yemen now in violent crisis; Jerusalem Post offers a case against Palestinian Statehood; Is Israel an Island?; Mocking all politicians; And a look at life in equations and formulas.

Lynch reminds us why putting Yemen on the back burner was a bad idea:
"The long stalemate in Yemen took a bloody turn yesterday which was as horrifying as it was utterly predictable. Regime forces opened fire on the tenacious, peaceful protestors in Change Square in Sana'a, killing dozens and flooding the hospitals with the wounded. The internet has been flooded with horrific videos which could easily have come from Libya or Syria. The violent crisis which many of us have been warning would result from neglecting Yemen and allowing its political stalemate to grind on has now arrived."

Why not get statehood while all else is up in the air? The anti-statehood line accuses Palestinians of giving up on their real aspirations and goals and back-tracking.
"The Palestinians' effort to attain international statehood recognition at the United Nations in September is aimed at enhancing their leverage in future negotiations with Israel."

"Solitude and Absurdity. Perhaps no two other words better described the scene at the United Nations earlier this year when US Ambassador Susan Rice raised her hand with a reluctant expression on her face to veto a Security Council resolution condemning Israeli colonial expansion. Fourteen of the fifteen members of the UN's most important body voted for this resolution save the United States."

"I finally had the honor of making the acquaintance of the USA president’s neighbors; Concepcion Picciotto and Thomas Doubting. Concepcion is a Spanish woman who has been living in Lafayette Square, across from the white House since 1981, in support of the Palestinian cause and in protest of nuclear arms."